Digital Photography Is Here To Stay

June 14, 2008

No matter the craft, you will have that group of people who hold dear what they see as the fundamental rules and methods that have been in place since the beginning. The ‘Purists’ shun new technologies as being inferrior and nothing more than a fad that should be replaced with traditional ways. These ideas have become quite the debate in the field of photography.

Certainly there have been a number of advances in cameras and film over the years and the improvements in darkroom processing have been overwhelming, but the arrival of digital photograpy onto the scene has created a firestorm of arguement over what is and is not the essense of a photograph. In photography, the purists believe in presenting a slice of life that exists through the photograph itself, while digital photography manipulates the photo into an idea prefabricated in the mind. Still in the future of photography, digital technologies are paving the way to endless potentials.

But there are some genuine reasons to at least incorporate digital technology into your professional photography game plan. These reasons are compelling enough that more and more we are seeing the big studios going all digital. So if you are running an independent photography business or if you are “just” a photography hobbyist (and thank God for the hobbyists), you may have to think through the value of moving to digital processing yourself. The amount of fuss and sheer “stuff” of doing a shoot digitally is dramatically less involved than using the older technologies. Witness how the digital revolution in photography has revolutionized the personal camera world. Now people can take as many pictures as they want and have them to review virtually instantaneously.

Probably the biggest leap forward in the use of digital photography is that you can do re-shoots quickly, easily and for virtually no cost. If you conduct a portrait session with a customer, you can have the “stills” of the session available almost as soon as the session is done. If a shot was good but not perfect, you can correct it and re-shoot immediately saving huge amounts of time and improving the chances you will get the portfolio you want and that the customer wants on the first session.

If it is the quality that you are worried about, digital photography can deliver. The end results are a photo that is many cases is better than if having used the prior technologies. With the cost saving benefitting both the customer and the photographer, professional photos are more readily sought after now than ever before. This convienence and saving will bring the consumer back more often as they are being provided a quality service at an obtainable price for any budget.

As computers and internet technologies are advancing, digital photography has become part of this wave. Personal computers have become an ingrained part of our lives and with the combination of the internet superhighway, photographs have become common communication between people. With only a click of a button, photos can be delivered by e-mail, saved to a DVD or CD, or displayed in an online gallery. Customers then have a basis for ordering additional photos for the same cost and have more immediate delivery in a much more convienent way to view and store them.

Editing has similarly moved from the realm of the back room wizards to something any of us can do due to the sophisticated computer programs, such as Photoshop, that we can use to improve the pictures we take. It is really amazing the effects that can be imposed on a picture with this software. But more importantly we can so much more easily correct minor problems with a photograph so what might have been a lost session can be improved to become acceptable with some clever use of digital editing.

From the snap of the shutter to editing and delivery, digital photography has become a mainstream medium in photography. Although the ‘purist’ might argue, the benefits of digital technologies are undeniable. Customers are accepting of this method in the professional realm as they are familiar with digital in their own personal cameras. They get the enjoyment of their photos quicker, and at a much more reasonable cost. They have the instant gratification of being able to forward pictures to family through the internet with a simple click. Customer satisfaction combined with the fact that digital is easier, faster and much more profitable for the photographer provides a strong platform for digital photography to be here to stay.

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